Wi-Fi rollout in Kolkata raises clogging concerns

KOLKATA: After the euphoria comes the concern. While the impending Wi-Fi rollout has generated a lot of excitement in the city, it has also raised doubts about the quality of service. Experts warn that since the service will be offered at small pockets to begin with, clogging was a possibility. If it happened, users would be inclined to opt out.

The Park Street area is set to be the first Wi-Fi hotspot in Kolkata in two months. With a multitude of restaurants, cafeteria, hotels, educational institutes, offices and clubs, the area is expected to have a heavy usage once the service is rolled out, initially free of charge. Unless the network has a big enough capacity, it might falter, according to IIT Kharagpur professor AN Samanta.

"Our Kharagpur campus is Wi-Fi-enabled and has a capacity of 2 Gbps. Yet, it slows down when usage is heavy. It is bound to be heavier in the Park Street area. So, its success will depend on the fibre optic cables used to transmit the Wi-Fi. The broader they are, the less will be the chance of clogging," Samanta said.

A possible solution could be multiple Wi-Fi hotspots within the same zone, according to Chandan Majumdar, professor of computer science at Jadavpur University. "It will help to distribute the load within the zone. It appears that the area will have a large number of transitional users once the service is rolled out. Those on the move would be switching over to Wi-Fi from their existing networks while they are in the zone. Also, the area sees a lot of foreign tourists who would obviously be logging in. Clogging is a possibility unless they plan it really well," he said.

Poor connectivity has dogged Wi-Fi zones everywhere, pointed out Debesh Das, professor of computer science at Jadavpur University. "Even at the Kolkata airport, you can't log in everywhere, barring a few far corners of the terminal. At Bengaluru and Hyderabad, the hotspots remain clogged. Setting up a Wi-Fi zone is an expensive proposition. It remains to be seen how it works out in Kolkata," said Das.

Kapil Sharma, owner of Konnect, a smart device outlet, felt making the entire city Wi-Fi-enabled is a wonderful idea for it bypasses a lot of hurdles. "First, you don't need a data cable or a card. It lets you be connected on the go. All you need is a Wi-Fi-enabled tablet or smartphone. Clogging is indeed a possibility since they will initially be offering a free service in a small area. Thousands might want to log in and that will slow down the network. So, what they could do is follow the 'First in First Out (Fifo) system that will automatically log out those who had logged in earlier and let new users into the platform. You can log in again," suggested.

But eventually, it will be the quality of service that will clinch it, felt Sharma. "In the end, users want an efficient service at their homes and offices. It won't matter to them if the service extends to the entire area or the whole city. In fact, very few cities in the world offer the facility, other than a few Wi-Fi hotspots," said Sharma.

Reliance JIO, which will be offering the service, is yet to finalize the technical details. But it will be efficient enough to handle the load, according to a spokesperson.